BattleBlock Theater
BattleBlock Theater, formerly titled "Game 3", is an upcoming co-operative / competitive platformer video game and the third production from developer The Behemoth followin Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers. Set to be released in 2012, the company originally revealed an early playable version of the game at the Tokyo International Anime Festival on 16 March 2009 with a trailer of gameplay footage. The game has been announced for Xbox Live Arcade, with other possible formats yet to be confirmed. Programmer Tom Fulp, creator of Newgrounds and The Behemoth, is said to be focusing on other Newgrounds projects rather than playing a prominent part in this game's development. Story Hatty Hattington, who has a square head, is adventuring at sea with his nameless friends who has a round head. All of a sudden a storm brews and destroys their boat, leaving them shipwrecked on an island, where they enter a mysterious theater. Hatty, greedy for gold, forces all the prisoners of the theater (including his friend, the player character) into deadly plays. Gameplay Players create a character using shapes and different face styles and give them a weapon to use, and control them using a simple control system of running, jumping, punching and firing a weapon. Punching dazes an opponent, while jumping on their head kills them. Players on the same team can stand on each others heads and help their teammates up ledges. Different weapons have different effects, ranging from explosive devices to effect inducing objects. Levels shown featured different types of blocks, including ones that self-destruct and ones with spikes, as well as hazards such as water and laser cannons. Power-ups include wings that allow players to fly around the level. The following mini game modes have been revealed so far: *A block painting game where blocks turn into the color of the player who first touches them. While blocks are flashing, an opponent can capture them if touched. The blocks are de-colorized at certain intervals. At the end of the match, the player or team who touched the most blocks wins. *A soccer game where each team attempts to knock a ball into their goal, a hole on the ground. The ball is advanced by bumping into it. *A King of the Hill based game. *A game where you collect gold coins that are spit out by a golden whale which floats about the stage. Points are earned by depositing the gold into a flying safe. *A game where killing an opponent releases its soul into the stage. Points are earned by collecting and holding onto an opponent's soul. Players who have lost their soul can also attempt to chase it down after respawning. *A game where opponents try and push their opponents into hazards. Jumping on opponents doesn't kill and certain weapons (like the grenade) are disabled. *Cooperative stages in which two players work together to get through the level filled with obstacles, such as bridges that require one player to hold a switch down while the other returns to bring a creature back. Development Dan Paladin has stated that the things such as the mini-games and character selection weren't final. At San Diego Comic Con 2009, the game, under its working title "Game #3", was shown to have online gameplay with up to 16 players in up to 4 teams. The final game will also have a single player story mode. While not a lot is known about the main game itself, it appears to revolve around the collection of gems. Like The Behemoth's previous game, Castle Crashers, there are plans to feature user-generated music from Newgrounds artists. At the Tokyo Game Show, The Behemoth announced the game would definitely be making its way to Xbox Live Arcade, though they were unable to say at the time if the game would be released for other formats. A second trailer was released on February 1, 2010, revealing the final name for the game to be BattleBlock Theater.